Posts from October 2005

Imagine a Consumer Good almost 1000 years old: Grana Padano cheese is such a thing

While gathering some information on Grana Padano, Granapadanoa type of Parmesan, I discovered to my surprise that it was close to 1000 years old.
Cistercian monks in Chiaravalle (Italy) started making this cheese as a way of saving milk. An unpasteurized, hard, cow milk cheese, it ripens in 12 to 48 months and can be eaten or shaved or grated on your salads or pastas and more. For more details read About.com tasting review.


Ryan Singel (Wired) relates how 'Ritual Coffee Roasters' became a second home for many San Francisco techies

Ryan Singel writes today on Wired on how Ritual Coffee Roasters, in Mission District of San Francisco,  established itself in the past few months as the favorite hangout and second office for many programmers and other techies. His article "Cafe 2.0: After the gold rush" tells us as much about the passion and love of tinkering with the art of good coffee that the owners, Jeremy Tooker and Eileen Hassi bring to the place.


To answer your medical questions, 'Healthline' is a new and useful place to visit online

Who does not have medical and health questions? A new service just launched, Healthline who define themselves as "The web's best health information at your fingertips" is indeed quite good. I did a couple of searches including one on the Flu Season. I checked my state (New Jersey) on the map, got quick access to local statistics and flu clinics. All the information was in plain english, a breeze to use. They are now in Beta (early release) so there might be some kinks here and there but over all it is a very good tool.
To give credit where it's due, I found out about Healthline on Techcrunch.


For simple Online To-Do-Lists 'Remember the Milk' does the Trick

We all struggle with our to-do-lists. from Australia, Emily Boyd and Omar Kilani offer us 'Remember the Milk' Remember_milkas a simple way to deal with our tasks, to-do-lists and schedules. You can organize them by categories, due dates and color code them amongst other things. Best of all it is free. No software download is needed, just register and it is ready to use within minutes. For more details visit their 'Learn More' page.


'Fundable' offers new ways to raise Funds for your School PTA, sell Tickets for an Event or Finance your Art or Business Project

After hearing a segment about  Fundable on Marketplace (NPR), I took a look at their offering.
It sounds like a good way to raise Funds for your kids PTA, Library, Museum, Pet Shelter and other local needs.
Fundablelogo

You can use it as well to pay for Collective Purchases such as a shared Summer Rental.
It offers a practical way to sell tickets for an Event you organize.
Musicians or Filmmakers or Entrepreneurs could consider it to get seed money for their new endeavour.


In Japan, the 'Shibuya' girls are trendsetters

In a special report on Japan in today's Financial Times, David Pilling piece 'Small, but perfectly funded' explains how the  'Shibuya Girls' are trendsetters in such areas as fashion and cell phones.Shibuya_1 They create the buzz or bring down products through 'kuchi-komi', the japanese version of word of mouth marketing. David tells us that everyday thousands of them visit 'Shibuya', Tokyo's place to be for upcoming tech and fashion trends.
Unfortunately there is no Link available to David Pillings's piece.


Shameless Self Promotion #1: Our Blog is one of those taking part in 'Best of the Blogs International'

Maybe you have not noticed the 'BOBS...VOTE' button on this BLOG. Well it means that we are one of the many taking part in the 'Best of the Blogs 2005' organized by Deutsche Welle. Check our entry for more details.
Thanks to Loic Lemeur for bringing 'The Bobs' to our attention


Handy Technology for Wine Lovers : 'Wine Collector 150'

Even if you do not have a wine cellar. Intelliscanner offers Wine Collector 150. It allows you by scanning the retail barcode on the bottle to get all relevant information on the wine without having to type it. It also gives you the maturity charts for it. This nifty tool starts at $199.00 and is available in Blue Tooth and USB versions. I discovered it on Coudal.